What's Done Is Done

I just finished my last real training week before the Rocky Raccoon 100. To be more accurate this was my last taper week with any significant mileage in it. The next few days I will just run a little bit here and there to stay warmed up and to keep from going stale but nothing more than a couple miles at a shot.

I made the decision in late November around Thanksgiving to really back off. I made this decision because I knew that the push to get to this point right now would take a lot. Also I had not had a decent break in a while anyway, so the week of November 14 was pretty much a 30 mile week with the week of November 21 being a nine mile week. The nine mile week was tough but I am glad that I forced myself to lay off those days.

But after that little break the work started with a vengeance. The biggest challenge I knew that I would face would just be trying to remain consistent in my training and this I was able to accomplish despite a lot of things trying to get into the way which I won't get into again now. But be that as it may, here are the weeks and totals leading up to the present which I am very proud of.

Nov 28 - 70.51 miles
Dec 05 - 85.23 miles
Dec 19 - 80.17 miles
Dec 26 - 90.35 miles
Jan 02 - 106.16 miles
Jan 09 - 81.07 miles
Jan 16 - 65.99 miles
Jan 23 - 46.80 miles

From November 28th until today that is a grand total of 706.83 miles.

Just a quick note on shoes. The La Sportiva Crosslites are still my overall shoe of choice at this time and probably what I will start with at Rocky. The Ionv-8 Roclite 285's... I like them enough but they pretty much suck on any hard surfaces. Another area where the Crosslites are superior, I KNOW that I can run a marathon on pavement with them but the Inov-8's, no way. On any trail they are a really solid shoe but mix any road or pavement in and they are not fun to wear. I will end up just wearing the Inov-8's here and there until I wear them out.

The New Balance MT110's... wow. These shoes make the MT101's look and feel like the retarded and ugly half sister that they are... Seriously, after the first run in the 110's I was ready to throw away and burn the couple of pairs of 101's that I still had around. Great for trails, hell, even great for track! I don't know yet for how long of a run I would trust them for but I will say that I plan to race in them at Salida for certain.

Time to pack and take it easy now.